1 Content 1.Summary of the Korea High Speed Railway Project 2.EIA System in Korea 3.Limits of Present EIA System 4.Tasks for the Betterment Content 1.Summary.

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Content

1. Summary of the Korea High Speed Railway Project2. EIA System in Korea3. Limits of Present EIA System4. Tasks for the Betterment

Content

1. Summary of the Korea High Speed Railway Project2. EIA System in Korea3. Limits of Present EIA System4. Tasks for the Betterment

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- Design in 1990, construction commencement in 1992, commercial operation for 1st phase of the project from April 2004

- 2hr.30 min. from Seoul to Busan on the 409.8 ㎞ route

※60% of population(30 million) and 70% of national logistics concentrated on this route

- EIA conducted from 1991 to 1992

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Estimate, analyze, and mitigate damages by construction projects to ecosystem, living environment, society and economy

- Railway and road projects- Residential and industrial complex development- Dam construction and reclamation projects- Golf course construction and group facilities district development inside a national park

- Ecosystem : 5 Points(meteorology, topography, geology, endemic species)

- Living environment : 11 points(noise, vibration, quality of atmosphere and water, wastes)

- Social and economic environment : 7 points (population, habitation, industry, etc.)

Evaluate any possible impacts alongside high speed rail route( 1 ㎞ wide) after completion

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Developer drafts EIA Report

Developer drafts EIA Report

Presentation and public inspectionPresentation and public inspection Public hearingPublic hearing Report

completionReport

completion

◦ Reporting procedure◦ Reporting procedure

Developer submitsEIA report

Developer submitsEIA report

Notify confirmed report to developer

Notify confirmed report to developer

Review by MOE.Review by MOE.

◦ Confirmation procedure◦ Confirmation procedure

-Report confirmation· Submit the completed EIA report to government (Ministry of Environment) for a review by subordinating special organizations

-Report completion· After confirming the final route make a draft EIA report· Make a presentation and public inspection for residents· If more than 5 to 30 residents want, hold a public hearing and complete the EIA report

-Post-process of the confirmed report· Developer, through post-environmental impacts survey, abide by the confirmed report in a faithful manner

· MOE, through frequent field inspections, check whether or not confirmed report is properly observed(construction suspension order, correction order, etc)

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■ Since EIA system was introduced in Korea in 1982, environmental impacts have been assessed on the projects which had finished feasibility review

- Cumulative impacts caused by other projects on same area were not analyzed

- Rather than assessing impacts on human ecosystem and final receptors of the impacts, EIA focused on assessing impacts on atmosphere, the water quality, noise, and other easily comparable criteria, making it simple but not encompassing the entire scope of environment.

- Carrying out EIA after site selection makes the review on alternatives virtually impossible

■ A deeper appreciation of environment preservation heights environmental consciousness among nation people and helps accelerate the establishment of NGO groups since 2000. Activities of NGOs have been increasingly varied and their influence magnified

※Many environmental NGO groups were established between 2000 and 2004 (120 out of all 260 NGO groups in Korea are environmental NGOs)

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Wetland/templeWetland/temple Horizontal distaHorizontal distance(m)nce(m)

Vertical distanceVertical distance(m)(m)

Slope distanceSlope distance(m)(m)

MujechiMujechi 160160 411411 441441

MilbatMilbat 8080 420420 427427

HwaumHwaum 2,7002,700 501501 2,7462,746

Naewon templeNaewon temple 2,2602,260 7070 2,2612,261

Bumeo templeBumeo temple 1,5001,500 206206 1,5141,514Cross section of the tunnel area

■ Plaintiff : Buddist priests of Naewon Temple in Mt. Chunsung and NGOs

■ Claim : Tunnel(depth:300m) to be run beneath Mt. Chunsung(height:922m) in 2nd phase shall be realigned for ecosystem conservation.

- They claimed the change of high speed rail route since 2002 because more than 20 wetlands, 30 endemic animals and plants are excluded in the original EIA and ground subsidence and deprivation of ground water are anticipated.

- A lawsuit was filed on Nov. 2001, construction was suspended for 3 years and 6 months, and one buddist priest entered into a hunger strike four times upto 100 days

- NGOs filed a lawsuit on Oct. 2003 again under the name of korean clawed salamander but the court dismissed the case(no such case whose plaintiff is not a human is found in legal history worldwide)

- Experts selected by government and NGO groups made a precise investigation to verify the case

■ Major wetland, temple, and separating distance

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Government adopted SEA, a system in which environmental concerns are addressed in early stages of development, and it will take effect on 2006.

- If environmental concerns are addressed in pre-environmental review process by reflecting residents' opinion, developers do not have to consider the opinions in EIA stage, otherwise it could be redundant works

- Concerning major environmental issues, opinions of NGOs, local residents and expert reviews shall be reflected and then social conflitcs can be minimized